Ganeshana Madhuve (1990)

A vathara (tenement) comedy dealing with landlord-tenant relations, providing opportunities for action as well as romance. This is part of a popular 80s ‘Ganesha’ series by Phani Ramchandra, based on Telugu stories and dealing with lower middle-class characters (cf. Gauri Ganesha, 1991; Ganesha Subramanya, 1992). Principal characters in the series include the bachelor Ganesha (Nag), his cricket-loving mother (Vaishali), his landlord Ramanamurthy (Chandru) and the landlord’s daughter Adilakshmi (Prasad). Adilakshmi, a cantankerous landlady, much cursed along with her father by all the inmates of the tenement, has an alter ego: the radio singer Sruthi. Ganesha hates Adilakshmi, but falls for Sruthi’s voice on the radio. An important character in the genre is a man who provides ideas to various characters and demonstrably helps to extend the plot. An unusual opening appeals to popular notions of creativity and artistic achievement: simulating a press conference, the filmmaker ‘presents’ his film and introduces key technicians to his audience who then ask questions about the production.